ComicalMayhem

CW: Tame R34 jump scares.

Pretty funny video but also a lot of hot takes and good analysis on the show.

By Komori. Link to (Pixiv) post.

Artist's Pixiv

Artist's Twitter

Haru burst through the double doors into the lecture hall. "I'm not late!" she announced, as everyone, including the professor, stopped to turn and look at her. Her cheeks flushed with embarrasment as she tried to mutter an apology to the class.

"Right..." the professor said. He was the same one that had given the orientation tour. Haru tried to recall his name. "Well, take a seat then. I was just going over the syllabus."

Haru pulled her hat over her head, going to find a seat and ignoring the stares and whispers. There was one near the back that she chose. J'atoh, still wearing the nurse cosplay, walked in after her, completely unpeturbed.

"Excuse me, young lady! Is that any outfit to wear to a classroom?!" The professor sputtered as he saw J'atoh's outfit.

"Yes. Yes it is," they replied as they joined a seat next to Haru. The professor gave up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right, where was I before I was interrupted? Ah, of course."

The professor continued with his speech; the class, apparently, was history. They went over the lesson plan, when the essays and exams would be due, what the required reading materials are, rubric and grade scaling, and Haru wondered if Haurchefant or Harbinger was closer to the professor's name. An hour slipped away like the peel of a banana, and before she knew it Haru was busy trying to get J'atoh to wake up. Perry joined them, still in their signature teal and orange outfit. Suddenly, Haru heard someone screaming their name. She turned around just in time to see a gremlin in red and black fly into her.

"HAAARUUUU! I missed you!" Kasane Teto said.

"Augh! Get off of me!"

"I tried to find you during the initiation, but I never did and I ended up getting paired up with this scary blue thing! Haru, save me!"

Teto cried into Haru's clothes while she eyed Perry for help. Instead of helping though, they held a hand to their face and tried desperately to look like they weren't laughing.

"Et tu, Perry?" Haru said silently as she submitted to Teto's abuse.

Then, someone called out Teto's name, and she suddenly froze above Haru with a "geh." When Haru peered around Teto, she saw a girl with black armsleeves and miniskirt with teal-blue trimming and a grey dress shirt with a blue tie. Her hair, the same color of teal, coalesced into two enormous twin tails that reach down to the ground.

"Teto! Leave these people alone! We're going to be late to the next class." The new person reached down and yanked on Teto's collar as she wailed.

"No! I don't wanna go! Class is boring and lame, I just want to harass cute girls all day!" Teto cried as the other person dragged her away.

Haru chose to ignore Teto's comment. "Thanks for that," she said earnestly to the person dragging Teto away.

"Nice to meet you!" she said, holding out a hand. "I'm Hatsune Miku! Me and Teto are in the same team." Teto sniffled in reply as Miku held her up.

Haru replied to the greeting in kind. They exchanged contact information, and Miku walked away, dragging and chastising a sobbing Teto.

J'atoh finally woke up; half groggy, they started complaining about something. Haru pulled them away as well, mimicking Miku and Teto as Perry followed behind; she ignored whatever J'atoh was complaining about.

Their next class was combat studies, this time taught by Sky. He sat on the desk at the end of the lecture hall, eyes closed and arms crossed as he waited for everyone to file in and sit down. There were muted whispers floating amongst the crowd as everyone took their seats; everyone here had gone through initiation, and so everyone knew exactly who this was. At least, that's what Haru guessed was the case. This was probably the most interesting class of their semester.

The bell rang, and Sky opened his eyes.

"Welcome to Combatives class," he said, a strange sadistic venom dripping from his voice. "First lesson: you have no semblances."

Haru stared at him in confusion; she looked around and found everyone else doing the same.

He held up a hand to explain. "Thus far, you've more than likely already seen combat of some kind. I would wager a guess all of you used your semblance in some way or to some degree to give you an edge. That's all good, and might have been fine with any other professor. Not with me. Your semblance is a crutch. Rely on it too much, and when it fails, you die."

Someone in the crowd scoffed and pointed out how semblances are part of them, that they'll always have it available.

"You won't," Sky replied. "There are semblances that can cancel out other semblances. Even without one, there are ways to mitigate a semblance's effectiveness. What good does a super power do you if you can't use it effectively? So from this day on out, you're going to learn how to fight without a semblance."

Someone else declared that was bullshit. On some level, Haru thought the same. Mandating that someone fight without their semblance was just dumb all around.

Sky grinned, and pointed out the student. "Don't believe me? Come down here and fight me. If you win, I'll take back everything I just said."

More muted whispers. The student shrugged, and walked down to the stage, drawing their weapons; a pair of swords. They closed their eyes and small balls of flame lit up around them; they seemed to have a mind of their own, dancing through the air around the student. Haru could tell they had some control over the fire, but that the balls were also somewhat autonomous. They charged, towards Sky; he hadn't moved an inch, only holding his keyblade at the ready. As the student got closer, the balls of fire shot out towards Sky, some going for his face and others going for the ground around them. Some to blind, some to restrict movement; suddenly she wondered who this student was. He seemed fairly normal and average; nothing special. Sky however, just grinned. He leapt up and over the balls of flame, converting his keyblade into its tommy gun form and firing a hail of bullets at the student. He blocked them with his short swords. The fire balls from earlier swung around and tried homing in on Sky, but he danced through them and slashed twice at the student, both strikes faster than the student could handle. He was disarmed, but Haru saw what Sky didn't; the orbs swinging back around and shooting towards him from his blindspot. Haru was fully certain the attack would land; the fight wasn't over yet, and once struck the student would have time to recover their weapons and go for a counter offensive. At least, that's what Haru's semblance predicted. Reality was completely different. Sky lunged forward at the unarmed student faster than he could back away, grabbed his arms, and swapped positions with him in the moments before the fire struck. Instead of Sky being hit, the fire struck the student. He screamed in pain; Sky kicked him to the floor before holding his own swords towards his throat. The students aura flickered badly. Haru hadn't even seen Sky recover the student's blades.

"Semi-autonomous fire balls. Almost like magic. Neat semblance, but your focus was divided between controlling the fire and keeping track of me. Not only that, you overextended and tried to get me in the back while my attention was on you." Sky dropped the student's weapons on top of him and recovered his own keyblade, holdind it behind his head and across his shoulders. "Any questions?"

Haru raised her hand this time. "How do we know you weren't using your semblance there?" From her perspective, it was a valid question. He shouldn't have been able to dodge those fire blasts at the end, much less swap himself with the student and get him hit.

Sky grinned cockily. "I don't have one."

A beat of silence. Then the hall erupted; some protesting the impossible, some praising his skill, some shouting in utter shock at the revelation. Haru, on the other hand, nodded. It made sense. She knew he wasn't lying about it.

"Quiet!" Sky yelled after a few moments. The chatter died down immediately as the student he fought returned to his seat. "You're all going back to fundamentals; you'll be learning combat from scratch, not using your semblance at all for the next few months. You'll learn techniques and tactics from me, spar against each other, and hone your battle skills, sans semblance. For those with passive semblances, this will be the opportunity to practice keeping it down. For those with active, you'll practice breaking that instinct to use it. Over time, you'll earn the right to use your semblance again. Your semblance is a tool, like any other; don't let it become a crutch."

The rest of the class, Sky focused on teaching footwork and body coordination, hammering in the importance of balance and recovery. By the end of it, Haru's head was swirling with new information she was struggling to move to long-term memory. With eyes closed and hands on her temples, she moved on to the next class, Grimm studies.

There was no one there. Well, there were the students, but the professor was nowhere to be seen. Class time started and the students quieted down. The professor still never showed. Some muted chatter sparked, which eventually evolved into full scale conversations, and the hall was abuzz with people just hanging out and chit-chatting. The professor still never showed, and Haru wondered if they were ever going to show.

They didn't. The class started and ended without anyone showing up to teach it. The students filed out of the room, Haru included, wondering what that was all about. J'atoh and Perry were in their own world, following behind Haru, chatting about something or another, except "chatting" was more J'atoh saying whatever came to their mind and Perry being silent and stoic as usual.

"Hey, look, it's team Faunus!"

The shout broke Haru out of her innermost thoughts. The hallway was sparsely populated, a number of students coursing through to their next class, Haru and her team included. The jeer came from a student at the head of another group, probably a team, hanging out in the hallway as team HYJR passed. The most striking thing about him was his hair; he had a thick crew cut with lepoard print dye and a mischevious grin splattered on his frankly stupid looking face. a girl with a brown bob cut and too much makeup, and a blonde girl that looked familiar for some reason.

"More like team reject! Hey, at least the school is putting them all in the same team." A teammate of his, a short spindly guy with a pink spiked mohawk, said. He flicked a middle finger Haru's direction.

"Ugh, we still have to sit in the same classrooms with those things," the third teammate of his said, a girl with a brown bobcut, lots of accessories, and too much makeup.

The fourth member of their team, a blonde girl who looked kind of familiar, said nothing.

Haru pulled her hat down over her eyes, ignoring the other team and their frankly rude comments about HYJR's features. Ignoring them was the best bet. No point causing a scene here; she wondered how Yusha would handle it, and suddenly the vacancy in their team was a pit in her stomach again.

"Hey, fuck you too, chumps!" J'atoh said. "Racist fucking pricks, get a life!"

"Oooh, look at the kitty hiss! Careful, bad behavior like that and you won't get any fish," pink mohawk douchebag jeered.

"What are those weird horns supposed to be? Freaky," brown bobcut said, checking her makeup in a handmirror.

"Just ignore them," Haru told her team, fully intent on just walking past the other team with no incident. For their part, Perry was doing great; head held up high and ignoring the other team. J'atoh on the other hand, glared at the other team as they walked past. The other team fell silent, just watching Haru and co.

Then, just as they were about to pass, the other team leader, the one with the leapordp print hair, spoke up.

"Heard your teammate's in the hospital. Bet she deserved it, freak of nature that she is. Surprised the rest of you-"

Haru didn't let him finish. She wheeled on him and punched him square in the jaw, catching him by complete surprise. He stumbled back, but Haru didn't let up. She barely registered someone shouting, saw them out of the corner of her eye pummeling the scrawny kid with the pink mohawk, but all of it was background noise. She hit the guy again and again, until he finally managed to dodge a punch and throw his own back. Haru barely dodged it. She threw a sweeping kick at leapord print, sending him tumbling to the floor. Then she mounted him, grabbed the collar of his shirt with one hand, and with the other, readied a punch.

The punch never fell. She felt a hand grab her own, and when she looked over her shoulder, Perry was there, shaking their head.

"Let go," Haru said coldly.

Perry shook their head calmly.

The moment ran on too long. Finally, the tension ran out of Haru's arm as she let go of leapord print. All around them, a big crowd had gathered, some of whom were whispering the word "savage." Haru avoided meeting any of their eyes. Two faculty members were holding pink mohawk and J'atoh apart. One approached her and grabbed her roughly by the arm, standing her up, and all of Team HYJR and the other team were escorted away.

I hope you're happy, Burntwits and everyone else who demanded it.

Anyways that cup was made following Burntwits French press guide; measured 33 g of ground, about 528 g of water. Though, I did make a slight modification to the original instructions, which was to boil the water first. The guide didn't say to do that, just add the water in, figured it might be better boiled though.

Then I added hella milk and sugar. Oh, yeah, switched to milk and sugar instead of creamer, mostly because the good creamer with ingredient list size like 5 are hells expensive. It... came out really good actually. I feel like better than my evil machine, though I don't know if that's because of the ratios of sugar and milk or not. I feel like I poured about the same amount of milk and sugar though. Hm.

Either way this saves way more counter space in exchange for slightly longer and more care needed, but if the coffee is consistently better, and less space needed... hm. I think yall might've been on to something. Also I can't tell if the press machine is made of glass or a really clear really thick plastic.

"Faith Foster. Feldspar Fourier. Flan Freeman. Florence Florencia. The four of you boarded boat 15. From this day forward, you will work together, as Team FFFF (forest), lead by Faith Foster."

Everyone clapped. The four new students walked across the stage, celebrating their introduction and initiation, waving to the cheering crowd as they joined the ranks of the students of Haven Academy.

Haru also clapped, not out of joy or celebration though. Her body operated on peer pressured bandwagon instinct; meanwhile her mind was somewhere else.

"... and Yusha Bestial, who is recovering in the hospital."

She nearly flinched when the name was called. Her eyes scanned the screens around the stage, showing the names of who's been called; herself, along with three others, including Yusha. Haru marched forward, taking a deep breath and trying hard to appear strong as she crossed the stage with the other two Faunus she recognized from the initiation, the ones who boarded the boat with her: Perry and J'atoh. They greeted her, one with a polite nod and the other with an over-enthusiastic slap on the back. Perry wore a teal trench coat and trousers with lots of pockets, a brown fedora, and an orange-esque vest. Meanwhile, J'atoh wore a white long coat over a black button down and slacks, with a vivid red cravat and matching red fingerless gloves. Together they approached Headmaster Lionheart to receive their team name.

"The four of you boarded boat 9. From this day forward, you will work together as Team HYJR (hydrangea), lead by Haru Goro."

Haru starred, dumbfounded at the appointment. She barely registered the other two celebrating and moving on without her. "But I..." Headmaster Lionheart cocked his head in confusion. Haru stopped herself, suddenly remembering the crowd. A few cheered and clapped. Some booed. Most were silent. She looked at the screen again; four Faunus, all in the same team, all anomalies at Haven and in Mistral. Haru pulled her hat down to cover her eyes, scurrying off stage and barely keeping herself together. The headmaster called up the next four names.

J'atoh and Perry were waiting for her off stage. "Heeyyyy, congrats leader!" J'atoh said, moving forward to greet her.

"I shouldn't be your leader," Haru replied, ignoring J'atoh's outstretched hand and brushing past. "This was a mistake, I'm going to talk to someone about this."

"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down, yeah?" J'atoh grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "What are ya talking about?"

"It's a mistake. It has to be!" Haru finally snapped. A dam broke inside her, the words pouring out. "It was my fault she got hurt and ended up like that! Not to mention, I barely even did anything the entire time! I was useless, and because of me, Yusha-" The name choked in her throat. "She's in the hospital now. I should have been better, I don't deserve to be leader!" Tears stung at her eyes.

Perry shook their head. They grasped Haru on the shoulders and knelt down. "We don't choose our fates," they said gruffly. "You did what you could."

"Yeah, listen to the big dude. Trust, I was pretty useless too, that initiation was no joke!"

Another team walked past chatting about how easy the initation was.

"That initiation was no joke!" J'atoh repeated, louder.

"That doesn't change anything!" Haru wiped her face with her arm. "Because of me, someone was hurt, and now I'm supposed to be responsible for their life going forward? That doesn't make any sense."

J'atoh sighed and shook their head. They shoved Perry away and gave Haru a hug. Haru yelped in surprise, but J'atoh didn't let go. "You're ok. Look, let's find our dorms, get set up for now, and then later this evening we can visit Yusha in the hospital, 'kay? I'm sure she's doing fine."

Haru hesitated. Eventually, she acquiesced and returned the hug. "Ok," she whispered back, wiping the tears off her face again. "Let's go."

***

J'atoh was the first inside the new dorms. They spun around as they walked in, taking in the common area. A fine, oval shaped plush rug sat in the middle of the hardwood floor; on top, a low table and several pillows for seating. A large recessed window took up most of the back wall, the dying sunlight pouring in and bathing the room in warmth. Outside it, the view was nothing special, just Haven academy, which rather disappointed Haru. She was hoping for a good view over the mountains, or maybe over Mistral itself. A bench sat below it. On either wall were two doors, leading to the private rooms for each student. J'atoh picked the far left one, running straight in. Perry picked the other left one, while Haru chose the room closest to the entrance on the right.

The rooms themselves were rather plain; a smaller window on the far wall, a desk with a chair, and a four post bed with accompanying dresser. Large enough to live in, maybe to add some new furniture too. Haru briefly wondered if the other two were decorating their rooms or unpacking their stuff. For her part, Haru just flopped onto the surprisingly soft bed and tried to clear her mind. Yusha, the responsibilities of a leader, her failure at initiation... Everything in past, present, and future was swirling around in her mind in a slurry of self-deprecating depression. Haven was turning out nothing like she thought it would. For a brief moment, Haru wondered if she even belonged. She would probably fail her team if she stayed. It was only a matter of time until someone got hurt again on a mission, under her watch, following her orders. She-

There was a knock at the door. Haru lifted her head from the pillow and mumbled something. J'atoh swung the door open, took one look at Haru, and burst out laughing. Haru mumbled again.

"Passed the fuck out, eh? And I thought I was the sleepy head. Come on, we're heading to the hospital. Also wipe the drool off your face."

Haru suddenly flushed with embarrasement. She wiped the drool off and got up, joining J'atoh to the hospital. The sunlight had mostly died; whatever dribbles of it were left shone weakly through the commons window. Once inside the hospital, they found Yusha's room. She wore a simple hospital gown and was tied up to a machine that seemed to monitor her vitals, including her aura levels. Haru stared at the machine for a while, while J'atoh went to use the bathroom. Eventually, Haru moved to the side of the bed and sat down, studying Yusha's face. Yusha was grimacing, though no sounds escaped her mouth. Haru hesitated for a moment, then gave in and held Yusha's hand.

Haru heard the curtain rustling open. She looked up to see a nurse. A very scantily-clad nurse. A very J'atoh looking scantily clad nurse.

"J'atoh, what the fuck?" Haru asked, utterly flabbergasted.

"What? What'd I do?" they asked in reply, genuine confusion on their face.

"Why... why are you wearing a sexy nurses outfit?"

J'atoh leaned forward over the bed, getting close to Haru. "Oh, you think it's sexy?"

"That's not... No, what! the fuck is happening?"

J'atoh chortled, flopping back on a seat. "As they say, when in Rome, etc etc."

"The fuck is Rome?"

J'atoh just shrugged, pulling out a book from seemingly nowhere and reading it. Haru chose to ignore it. She held on to Yusha, wondering if she would forgive her for her mistakes, hoping she gets better soon. At the very least, Yusha's face seems to have relaxed somewhat.

"So like, are you two a couple or something?" J'atoh asked, eyebrow raised.

Haru immediately blushed and let go. "No! I just... it's my fault she's like this, and as leader this is the only thing I can do." Haru looked down at Yusha, worry spilling over her face. J'atoh didn't reply, and the two lapsed into a long silence.

"Oh, where's Perry?" Haru asked, realizing the other member of their team wasn't there.

"Hmm? Oh, they said they were going to go scout out the campus and figure out the route we need to take for classes."

"Right, those are starting soon."

They lapsed into silence yet again. After another long while, Haru drifted off to sleep.

***

“Your eyes are slightly different colors."

Haru was taken aback. A strange warmth spread through her; she felt her cheeks flushing. "They are..." she replied, unsure what else to say. She's had heterchromatia all her life, but the colors were similar enough almost no one had ever noticed. Well, that, and not many people really paid attention to her eyes. She tuned back into the conversation just as Yusha was questioning whether J'atoh was actually a nurse or not, which they weren't but for some reason decided to dress in a hot nurse costume. She wondered if she should say something to them about it as leader as she explained who they were.

As soon as Yusha realized they had passed the initation, she immediately tried to shoot up. Haru watched the expression on her face almost immediately change to pain, then back to non-chalantness. She talked as though she wasn't hurt or the pain was nothing, but Haru could see the pain she was hiding underneath. Then, her reply to the two of them telling her what happened left her concerned. What did she mean not fee like just a stab? As the nurse escorted Haru and J'atoh out, she kept mulling that comment over. Had she been stabbed like that before?

The thoughts slipped away from her as J'atoh elbowed Haru in the side. "She'll be fine. Come on, we should get back to the dorms."

"Oh, right," Haru said. "What time is it anyways?"

J'atoh checked an imaginary watch they definitely didn't have. "Like 5 AM."

Haru jolted, immediately awake. "What the fuck?! Class starts in like an hour!"

"Eh, it's the first day, they're probably going over the syllabus and stuff."

Haru ignored them, instead sprinting straight down the hall, gunning it for the exit, J'atoh hot on her trail and yelling something about not running in the halls of a hospital.

In the red trailer, Ruby swaps mags and goes flying at the Grimm. In V1, she shoots down while running up the face of a cliff. I'm sure there's other examples but they slip my mind for now.

The wiki claims she's shooting gravity dust bullets, but I always thought it was just high power ammo or whatever and the recoil is what caused the momentum.

I fucking love this song

Had an old acquaintance tell me he always put cheese in coffee, I don't remember if he added creamer or not. Apparently he said it was a puertorriqueño thing? Was I being gaslit or is this an actual thing?

Been meaning to make more espresso content to makeup for my coffee sins.

Tamped 18g of espresso ground as tight as I could into the portafilter, pulled 30 g of espresso at first. Since I under pulled, I pulled more and accidentally overpulled to 40g. Steamed some milk with a generous helping of Irish creme sugar-free syrup and sugar, then blended it with ice cubes in a small blender.

Came out pretty good! Probably because of the sugar and syrup and 3/4 cup of milk used, tbh. 18g of espresso is really hard to fit into the portafilter, was barely able to even fit the basket into the machine. One of these days I'm going to try espresso straight, no sugar or fluff, just to see what it's like.

There was darkness. Nothing but darkness and cold. A sharp pain pulsed on her stomach like an ocean tide, ebbing and flowing in intensity. She curled, trying to brace the pain off. Dark shadows encroached with their bone-adorned limbs. She tried to scream, but the moment she opened her mouth, something like water rushed in. She choked; no sound came out. The tendrils approached and suddenly the pain kept growing, expanding, spreading. Their many hands finally reached her; she thrashed and bit, tried to beat them away. Suddenly, her hands were bound, her mouth was bound, and she could only squirm. Squirm she did. Panic rose in her throat, tears fell from her eyes. She felt small again. They reached closer. One hand writhed towards her face. Then, just before it touched, she felt her hand enveloped in warmth.

Yusha groaned. Her eyelids fluttered, taking in the soft light around her, the dream rapidly fading from memory. She tried to sit up, but her body almost immediately wracked with pain. She tried again, before giving up and laying back down. Whatever bed she was in was soft and comfy, and the heavy pillow on her lap kept her warm. She started to drift back off to sleep, when she heard someone slide a curtain open. Groggily, she turned her head to see who it was. It was… someone. She didn’t recognize them, but they wore a nurse’s outfit. An, uh… oddly revealing nurse’s outfit? Why was it designed like that?

“Oh, did someone get hurt?” she asked, the words slurring in her mouth. She was tired. So incredibly tired.

“Ah, you’re up! That’s good. Welcome back,” the person said. Then, they poked the pillow on Yusha’s lap. “Hey, wake up sleepyhead.”

Yusha felt the pillow stir; she looked down in horror to see that there was a cute girl drooling into the sheets. Then it clicked: “Wait I know you!”

Haru blinked, her eyes still drooping with sleep. The moment she noticed Yusha, she shot straight up. “You’re awake!” she said, wiping the drool off her mouth. “Are you ok?!” Haru clutched the bed and stared at Yusha with wide eyes.

Yusha stared back, entranced by her eyes. “Your eyes are slightly different colors,” she said aloud without thinking.

Haru flinched backwards, blinking a few times. “They are…” she said, looking down at her lap.

Yusha immediately regretted making this absolutely adorable woman sad. To stave off the strange feeling of despair, she turned towards the nurse. “What happened? I don’t remember much…”

“Yeah because you were passed out, you goober,” the nurse said, flicking Yusha on the forehead. “Ya got shanked. Shishke bobbed. Ran through, but with something like a sword and not in the euphemistic sense.”

“What-”

“You got stabbed, dingus. Congrats on the new hole in your corpse.” The nurse sat down. “You’re lucky we were already near the shore; we had to fight a big ass fish while it was still inside you, then immediately get you over to the medics and hope you didn’t die. It was pretty nasty, there was a lot of blood. Like, a ton of blood, I didn't even know people could have that much blood in them.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re not a nurse?” Yusha asked.

“Because they’re not,” Haru said, glaring at the nurse. “I have no idea why they’re dressed like that.”

The not-nurse grinned. “Because I’m hot shit, duh.”

“Haru who is this person?” Yusha asked, utterly and completely lost.

Haru sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “This is J’atoh, our teammate.”

“Teammate…” Yusha was about to ask before it clicked in her head. “Wait we passed the initiation?!” Yusha shot up as she said this and immediately regretted her action. She winced at the sharp pain radiating from her torso. It was a different kind of pain than she was used to, far more severe and also… She raised a hand to the spot on her stomach where the pain was. There was a prickly sting to it, almost radiating. She suddenly felt very dizzy.

“Whoa, lay down!” J’atoh said, holding their hands out and pacifying Yusha.

“Take it easy, take it easy!” Haru yelled as well, suddenly concerned.

“What happened?” Yusha managed to ask as she laid back down.

“Like J’atoh said, you got stabbed,” Haru replied, sitting back down. “We were on the boat, not far from the shore, when a needlenose attacked from behind you. Got you pretty good.”

“It doesn’t feel like just a stab…” Yusha said, concerned.

Haru and J’atoh shared a concerned glance. Before they could say anything, the curtains opened again

A nurse, a real one this time, interrupted their brief visit and sent the visitors packing. Then, once she secured the area in a strangely militant manner, she sat besides Yusha and informed her of exactly what happened. Like the others said, she was indeed stabbed by a needlenose. She was still recovering, and it would be a few months before she was fully healed.

“I can’t wait a few months!” Yusha exclaimed, rising up once again, and once again groaning in pain. “Besides, I have, like, accelerated healing or something as part of my quirk or whatever it's called, I’m fine. I can shake this off like nothing!”

The nurse frowned. She explained that even if that was the case, the hospital has a duty to at least make sure Yusha's stable before she can be discharged; she'll have to wait at least a few days.

"But, I have training, and classes to attend... I'm going to be a huntress! I can't... I won't let a little thing like this stop me!" Yusha declared. She tried to sit up as proof that she's fine; the pain won out, and she fell back on the bed.

The nurse shook her head, giving some strict orders to remain in bed and not move around lest she aggravate her injury and get stuck for longer, before leaving.

Yusha slumped back down on the bed, staring at the sheets. Stuck in place, she sat there like that for a while, listening to the clock tick by, the despair bit by bit crawling up her mind. There was a gaping hole in her, figuratively and literally. The idea of missing out on training consumed her, the mere thought of falling behind her classmates and teammates she hadn't even met yet, of failing them and getting expelled and then being sent back to-

"Yusha Bestial."

She flinched, rubbing her face to hide the tears she didn't realize were forming. It was Sky, the instructor for the initiation. "Oh, hey," Yusha said, forcing a bright smile. "You came to check up on me! Don't worry, nothing can keep the Beast down!" She offered two thumbs up.

Sky said nothing. He simply sat down on a chair, and stared.

"Whoa, hey, why so serious?" Yusha chided. "Keep staring like that and I'm gonna start to think you've got a thing for me!"

Sky sighed, then closed his eyes. "You're injured. It's my fault. I'm sorry."

"Hah!" Yusha snorted. "Your fault? Please, it's not like you sent the Grimm after me. After all, I was the one who wasn't paying attention, and I let that sneaky bastard get one over on me. I should have done better, been paying more attention. Guess who learned that lesson the hard way? Hah!"

Sky stared hard, then shook his head. "You're injured. Badly. You almost died."

"Please, I almost die all the time. I'm the one who messed up here. It ain't your fault I'm an idiot-"

"No matter what you think of your own failings, don't discount my role in this," Sky interrupted. "I was the one who organized the initiation this year, and I was the one responsible for whatever happened to the students. I failed, and because of it, you ended up in this state." He folded his arms and closed his eyes again.

Yusha fell silent, looking away from him. She didn't understand. Who cares if he was the one who set it up? She volunteered for this knowing the consequences damn well. If anyone's to blame for her injury, it's her own fuck up.

Sky was the first to break the awkward silence. "No matter how... uniquely effective your aura is, you won't be out of here for a while. Maybe if this was Atlas... No, no point dwelling on what-ifs. You're here now, and at this rate, you might not be out for at least a few weeks, if not longer. At this rate, you might not be able to finish training."

Yusha's fists clenched the sheets. She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't go back there.

"That said, I can't let this go. I fucked up, and I'm going to make it right one way or another. It wouldn't sit right with me otherwise. So, I'm offering two pieces of help."

"What good can you do?" Yusha asked, harsher than she intended. "Like you said, I'm stuck here, and I've got no one to blame but my stupid self. I'm-"

Sky held up a finger. "One, training. Just because you're stuck in bed here, doesn't mean I can't at least get you started on the curriculum. Your body was the thing injured, not your mind." He held up two fingers. "Two... A secret."

Yusha just stared at him quizzically.

"I... I'm not supposed to talk about this. It's a tribe secret. But... I can somewhat help with your healing process.

"Wait seriously-"

"Shhh! It's supposed to be a secret in the first place, so stay quiet about it! I can't have you blabbing to people about it."

Yusha narrowed her eyes and nodded solemnly. "I swear to keep it a secret."

"Good," Sky nodded, completely missing the hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I know a recipe for a healing powder, and-"

"Healing pow-"

Sky covered her mouth his hand. "Yusha I swear to the fucking gods if you try to yell out one more time I'm walking out of here and you can spend the next several months in recovery."

Her eyes widened, realizing how serious he was. She nodded again, this time meaning it.

"Right, healing powder. It's a recipe passed down through my tribe, and I-"

"Your tribe?" Yusha asked at a whisper.

"Oh, I forgot you people are basically uneducated."

Yusha growled at the accusation. "You people?"

"Yes, you mistralians. Please, I'm Vacuoan, we don't have racism. And, can I finish a single fucking train of thought? You keep repeating what I've just said every 5 seconds like some sort of snake."

"Snake?" Yusha made a face, confused at the comparison.

"See you just did it again! Moons above I can't with you." Sky stood up. "I'll make this simple since you can't keep a thought in your head for 2 seconds, apparently. Me give you powder. Powder make you heal good. While you heal, I teach. Agree?"

"Deal," Yusha replied, holding her hand out for a handshake.

Sky accepted it. "You're alright." He reached into one of the oddly many pockets on his pants and pulled out a small bundle of leaf wrapping. "Pour this into your mouth and swallow. I'll be back another time with more."

Yusha took the bundle and tossed the whole thing in her mouth. She chewed, tearing through the cloth and spilling the powder out.

"I should warn you that it tastes-"

Yusha immediately began gagging and retching. Sky moved faster than she could; he clamped her mouth shut.

"You idiot, you're supposed to fucking pour the powder, not eat the bag whole. I've only got the one dose, swallow all the powder down and don't spit it out."

Yusha wanted to cry. Her body was practically convulsing with how utterly foul the powder tasted. Bile rose up her throat. Despite her body's best efforts to throw up, Sky kept her mouth clamped shut, until she swallowed it all down, somehow managing to keep the cloth in her cheek during the process. Sky didn't let go until Yusha nodded. Hesitantly, he did, and Yusha immediately began coughing and hacking. "What the fuck was in that?!" she demanded, spitting the cloth out.

"A powder. Family secret. I'll get you some water. Next time, don't fucking bite my hand. Or eat the entire parcel, it's a powder, open it first and pour it in." He turned to walk away, but stopped before leaving the room. "Milk helps with the taste a lot, oddly enough, just drink it after you finish the powder, and not a moment before. You uh... You don't want to know what happens if you mix it with milk."

There's some slight religious undertones but as a whole it's a pretty good metal song.